Album Review: VIETNAM: self-titled(kemado)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

For those of us who remember VietNam – the exceptionally ratty-looking greasy-haired guys who worked at Spider House that were too hip even for themselves and who a year or so later on tour could barely speak a coherent sentence let alone remember your name – it turns out they’re still alive and have a new self-titled full-length record to release on Kemado in January 2007.
The album is familiar territory for the band but seemingly more sincere and mature than their Vice recordings hipster candy EP The Concrete’s Always Greyer on the Other Side of the Street. The addition of Michael Foss on drums and Ivan Berko on bass adds some much needed meat to the core duo of Michael Gerner and Josh Grubb who have refined their careless, raspy vocals, and distorted, jangle blues guitars to produce a listenable album filled with hazy, psychedelic, mustached hipster sermons.
– dániel perlaky

DVD Review: BAD BRAINS: Live at CBGB 1982(mvd visual)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

If you’re ready to graduate from the modern-hardcore crap that not only pollutes your brain but also makes you look about as menacing as a 12-year-old girl, you may want to head back to to the early 80s to check out Bad Brains, the seminal hard punk-edged reggae-core group that shook CBGBs club to its foundations on a semi-monthly basis. Bad Brains: Live CBGB 1982 chronicles what was arguably the band’s heyday through the shaky, grainy footage of a series of shows at the legendary club in all its sweaty, distorted glory. At the time, the band’s fusion of punk and reggae rocketed them to cult status on the East Coast despite their limited output of recordings and infrequent touring and to those not fortunate enough to catch the band live, this is as close as it gets.
– dániel perlaky

Album Review: THAVIUS BECK: Thru(mush records)

Rating: 4 stars

On his sophomore effort Thru, Thavius Beck doesn’t just succeed in achieving true innovation – the producer’s quick, dizzying synths get your head spinning more quickly than ten rounds of Cuervo. Thru is essentially what a Linkin Park album tries to be, without the annoying pop influences that hinder its sound. The album is packed with raw, industrial-style beats with a dark hip-hop flavor that caters to fans of rap, rock and electronic music alike. The instrumentals, whether rap-centric (“Sonic Sound”) or ambient-esque (“Perpetual Pursuit”) are all tasteful to a degree where the entire album remains consistent without any of the tracks sounding quite the same.
Songstress Mia Doi Todd is brilliantly sampled on the dark and depressing “Down,” while former touring partner Saul Williams puts in his two cents on the aggressive “Lyrical Gunplay.”
Clocking in at a short 46 minutes, listeners go “Thru” Beck’s new album relatively quickly – but this sophomore set will leave fans eagerly awaiting for this up-and-comer’s third album.
– jordan davidoff

Album Review: LEMURS: self-titled (self-released)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Having seen the Lemurs consistently put on better and better performances in Austin clubs for over a year, it’s about time there’s a record to pump at home.
The band consists of top-quality musicians who thankfully don’t shy away from a complicated and layered approach to songwriting. While the album is full of hooks and addictive melodies, most songs on the record go beyond the normal pop constructions and incorporate funked-out instrumental freakouts and breakdowns that really elevate the Lemurs several cuts above the rest of the dance-ready indie powerpop groups out there.
With its deep headbop beats, overdriven synths, interlaced guitar melodies, dark velvet vocals, and fabulously chaotic electro-funk explosion, “Berlin,” a crowd favorite at live shows, is probably among the top ten singles coming out of Austin. Another stand-out track, “They Do What They Like,” features pleading, Cure-esque vocals and fuzzy-twang, surf-rock guitar riffs building on staccato rhythm breaks to create a noir dance anthem.
At 34 minutes, the band’s self-titled debut fits somewhere between an EP and a full-length, but it contains a couple of real gems that will find good homes on party and road-trip compilations; and makes me curious about their next effort.
- anatol ziege